Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa
Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP / Getty Images
Two weeks before Julian Assange accused the Ecuadorian government of cutting his access to the internet, the country's president made a surprise endorsement — casting his lot with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Assange, who has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012, has been using his Wikileaks site to publish thousands of hacked emails, most recently from the email of Hillary Clinton's campaign chief John Podesta. The White House has said that at least some of the emails, those from the Democratic National Committee, were obtained by Russian state hackers.
On Monday, Wikileaks said on Twitter that Ecuador cut off Assange's access to the internet over the weekend, "shortly after publication of Clinton's Goldman Sachs speeches."
Shortly after, Wikileaks alleged that US Secretary of State John Kerry had asked Ecuador to stop Assange from publishing Clinton documents. (An op-ed published Tuesday on state-run outlet Russia Today followed suit, suggesting a "potential US cyberattack" had taken down Assange's internet.)
In a statement, State Department spokesperson John Kirby denied the allegations. “Reports that Secretary Kerry had conversations with Ecuadorian officials about this are simply untrue," Kirby said in a statement to BuzzFeed News. "Period.”
Some have accused Assange of actively agitating against Clinton, including releasing his own medical records shortly after Clinton fell ill at a September 11th memorial ceremony.
The common thread between Wikileaks' possible connection with Russian hackers and Russian President Vladimir Putin's clear preference for Republican nominee Donald Trump have also raised eyebrows. Assange has refused to reveal his sources.
But in a little-noticed Sept. 30 interview, Ecuador's President, Rafael Correa, told Russia Today's Spanish-language outlet that an electoral win for Clinton would be preferable for the US and the world.
"I want Hillary, whom I know and appreciate greatly, to win," Correa said.
He went on to say, however, that Latin America "would be better off with Trump. When did progressive governments get to power [in Latin America]?... With Obama or with Bush?"
Julian Assange
Steffi Loos / AFP / Getty Images
The US-educated leader's relationship with the United States has been strained for years. This summer, Correa accused the CIA of financing opposition politicians in Ecuador. In 2009, he ordered the withdrawal of US troops from a military base in the coastal city of Manta. The decision to host Assange in 2012 did not help matters.
An employee at the Ecuadorian embassy in London said authorities in Ecuador had instructed them to tell journalists that they would not answer questions and to refer them to a press release. Foreign Ministry authorities "ratify that the protection given [to Assange] by the Ecuadorian State will continue while the circumstances that led to the granting of asylum remain," the release said.
Ecuadorian Ambassador Carlos Abad Ortiz did not reply to a request for comment on what was the cause of the internet outage at the embassy.
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